1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to software tools for testing the performance of network applications, and more specifically to software tools for automating the analysis of the results of performance testing of networked applications.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the ever increasing availability of internet access, businesses have come to rely upon network communications, such as the internet, as a means of distributing information about their businesses, as a means of advertising, and in many cases, as a means of providing services to customers and potential customers. For certain businesses, for example those in the field of retail sales via the internet, internet presence is critical to the core operation of the business itself. Businesses which do not rely upon the internet to distribute information about themselves may still use networked systems in order to provide internal access to information within the company and in order to allow efficient cooperation between co-workers located at different sites.
In setting up networked systems, whether for internal use, or for availability via the internet, it is important to test the operation of the system and the applications which run upon it. Not only must the system respond properly to individual requests for information, but any network-available resource should also be capable of operating properly when being subjected to many simultaneous requests. In addition to operating correctly when subjected to multiple requests, it is desirable to determine the speed with which the system, such as a web server, responds to requests as the load upon the system increases. Such testing to determine the ability of such a system to respond under increasing amounts of traffic is referred to as load testing.
A variety of commercial systems exist to assist companies to perform both functionality and load testing of networked systems. Because of the importance of such networked systems, there is a continued need for improved tools for testing such systems, as well as for improved tools for analyzing the results of such testing.